Golf is a game that has been popular in many parts of the world for many generations. Part of the game's popularity is due to the fact that it is one of of the few "life sports". That is, complete retirement because of age is rarely necessary. Golf provides an excellent vehicle for reasonable exercise for an extremely wide range of people.
The nature of the game requires that a substantial amount of equipment (e.g. clubs) be carried with the golfer as he moves about the course. There are several methods available to accomplish this, among them being the power cart, the hand-pulled cart, and the hiring of a caddy. However, the golfing purist or the person wishing to maximize the amount of exercise obtained from a round of golf will carry his or her own clubs. Carrying additional weight while exercising will clearly increase the strain on the cardiovascular and and muscular systems. This increased strain, within healthful limits, is exactly the desired product of exercise.
One problem inherent in carrying one's own golf bag is that the bag and equipment can be somewhat awkward. This awkwardness manifests itself not only in the carrying but also in finding something to do with the bag while making a shot. Minimal experience will teach a golfer that simply tossing the bag on the ground may cause soiling of the bag and may also provide more exercise in the nature of club retrieving activity than is desired. Helpful trees and other surfaces to prop the bag against are not always available and are notoriously fickle as well, often leading to tipping over and other problems, such as tree sap on the bag material. Backstrain from bending to the ground to pick out clubs and to lift the bag is a common result.
To combat these problems, inventive golfers, who are notorious for their willingness to try anything, have created a multitude of prior art devices to keep the bag in a semi-upright position. Theses devices can be grouped very generally into four categories.
The first type of device is an independent support. These devices are designed to be "added on" to the golf bag. An early example of this type of device is Arthur Smith's "Golf-Bag Holder", U.S. Pat. No. 1,475,605 dated May 27, 1922. A somewhat more recent example is Warren R. Tolman's "Collapsible Stand for Golf Bags", U.S. Pat. No. 2,902,238, dated Feb. 4, 1958. These examples of the prior art have the disadvantage of including support elements which are fixed in place. They therefore add to the effective volume of the bag, making it even more difficult to maneuver in close areas and limiting the comfortable carrying and storage orientations.
Another category of prior art contains devices designed to hold the bag upright by means of a sharpened stake adapted to be driven into the ground. Examples of this type of support appeared as early as Elmer T. Pocklington's "Device for Supporting Golf Bags", U.S. Pat. No. 1,548,169, issued Nov. 5, 1924. Devices of this nature appear periodically from that date to June 30, 1976, the issue date of the Panetta device, "Attachments for Golf Bags", U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,062. These devices have serious disadvantages in that a golfer may need to stand his or her bag in rocky ground or, perish the thought, sand. Also, the fact that many of the stakes in these devices are not retractable could present somewhat of a safety hazard to the golfer and others. Given the frequently volatile nature of the game, it is not always desirable to have sharp objects readily at hand.
The most common type of device in the prior art seems to be a straightforward tripod arrangement. The standard device of this type consists of two rigid support members attached to the bag, generally hinged for retraction, with the third leg of the tripod being the golf bag itself. The devices are myriad, an early example being George Parnall's "Stand for Golf Caddie-Bags and the Like", U.S. Pat. No. 1,135,464, dated June 18, 1914. A more recent device is that of Elwood Buck Jr. et al, "Support for a Golf Bag", U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,256, dated Aug. 18, 1976. The major disadvantage of these devices is that the golfer has to somehow engage the device every time the bag is set down, and disengage the device when the bag is picked up.
An effort to alleviate this problem can be seen in the fourth category of prior art, really a subset of the tripod category. The devices in this category all have some means to "automatically" engage the device. Some of these devices are spring-loaded, an early example being Henry Henneberg's "Golf-Caddie-Bag Stand", U.S. Pat. No. 1,187,007, dated Nov. 1, 1915. This device makes use of a "spring pressed sleeve" that, when released, pushes the support legs into proper position. Other devices make some use of gravity in their operation. Murray D. Gallagher's "Golf Bag", U.S. Pat. No. 1,840,663, dated Feb. 24, 1930, is one such device. Francis Leigh Cox's "Stand for Golf Bags", U.S. Pat. No. 2,305,517, dated Sept. 8, 1941, is another. Both of these devices have the disadvantage of requiring a latching mechanism to secure the support legs when they are not in use. Also, the Gallagher device requires considerable extra hardware.
In sum, the prior art generally suffers from one or more of three major disadvantages, among others. The primary disadvantages are: (1) The device for support is not integrated into the golf bag; (2) too much additional hardware is necessary, increasing the weight and effective volume; or (3) the device requires manual engagement and/or retraction.